


dispatches

by AslansCompass



Series: ....and how to save them [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-12-18 09:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18247262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AslansCompass/pseuds/AslansCompass
Summary: Cliff Jones, newly named Minister for Magic, has a weekly column in the Daily Prophet. He may not have style, but he's certainly got guts.





	1. Chapter 1

_The Daily Prophet,_ August 27, 1995

As the new Minister of Magic, I am under no illusions of popularity or support. I know perfectly well that I was nominated as a joke and confirmed as a way to pass the buck. None of my colleagues wanted the responsibility of standing up to the Dark Lord.  I am not politically powerful or particularly skilled in magic. But I am Minister, and I will use that power as seems fitting. 

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Clifford Jones. I've held the Black family's Wizengamot seat since 1985, resigning last month upon being appointed Minister.  My formal job, however, is teaching Year Three at the local primary school.  I married a wonderful woman named Josphine Grant in 1951, and we have two daughters, a son-in-law, a grandson and a granddaughter.

 In the past, I've ignored the many rumors about my background, but I am ready to speak plainly. I am not Grindelwald's son, the result of an affair, or a centaur transformed into a human (though full points for creativity on the last one.) I am, quite simply, a Muggleborn.

I was born 23 August 1939 to Katherine and James Jones. I had two younger sisters; Father died in the war. When I was eleven, I received my invitation to Hogwarts. At the end of my first year, Mother died unexpectedly. Newt Scamander offered to take me and my sisters in. However, the Ministry barred my sisters from staying with me.

They were Muggle.

I was not.

My sisters, only nine and seven, were faced with the threat of Obliteration --of losing their only remaining family in the world--simply because they didn't have magic.   Since then, I've been determined to end this senseless segregation of my two worlds.  Originally, I only wanted to keep my family together.

But since then, I've spent considerable time studying government procedures, modern technology, and sociology.  One conclusion cannot be denied: wizards are falling behind. 

Yes, wizards have developed amazing things: apparation, potions, extension charms, and more, beyond their medieval contemporaries. But what has been invented recently? In the past twenty, thirty, even fifty years, what has changed in daily life? While scientists cure disease,  revolutionize transportation, and discover the building blocks of life itself, what have wizards done?

I propose a brief survey. Perfectly simple; only five yes or no questions.  

Can muggle technology:

1\. Send a man to the moon?

2.  Enable conversation between New York City and London? 

3.  See inside the human body?

4.  Replace a human heart?

5.  Send a signal through the air that can create a moving picture?

Send me your answers by owl, or by the Royal Mail to Cliff Jones, 15 Hawthorne Street, Stanwell,  TW19 7RJ.  Please include your age and when you first learned about magic. 


	2. Chapter 2

_The Daily Prophet,_  September 3, 1995

After decades as a teacher, it seems strange not to be facing twenty to thirty new students, shopping for extra supplies, or reviewing lesson plans this time of the year. I associate fall with empty sheets of paper and fresh-packed lunches, not endless bureaucratic forms. Yet I can't stop thinking about what lies ahead for our youth.

My first grandchild started at Hogwarts this year. While we followed all the family traditions-- purchasing a new wand, visiting Diagon Alley, and sending him off with a box of fairy cakes--I couldn't help wondering if this really was a good idea.  I'd been through this before, with my daughters, my nieces and nephews, but this was more than just nostalgia or parental concerns. Does Hogwarts prepare children to become mature, responsible citizens?

The first-year curriculum covers astronomy, charms, Defence against the Dark Arts, herbology, history of magic, potions, and transfiguration, as well as flying lessons.  In non-wizarding schools, students are preparing for their SATs, a series of English, writing, and maths exams to determine their readiness for secondary school.  But perhaps the most important measure of education is how much of it is used in everyday life.

How many of you regularly need to know the moons of Jupiter? Who remembers the Goblin Uprising of 1255?  Does anyone turn mice into snuffboxes on a daily basis?  For that matter, who owns a snuffbox?  On the other hand,  _Alohomora_ is a reliable substitute for keys; the Mending Charm has saved the day on multiple occasions, and the Wide-Eye Potion has aided many a late-night study session. Yet even those spells have limited uses. Take any Hogwarts graduate, drop him in a muggle city, and ask him to find his way home again without apparition or Floo powder. Or set him against a muggle to create something new; who would succeed? 

The first responsibility of any community is to provide for its youth.  A society that does not provide for its youngest members is a society that is soon dissolved. Hogwarts was founded during a time of persecution and chaos as a safe place for young witches and wizards, somewhere they could study and learn without fear.  It has become a historic institution and a foundation of British wizardry in its own right.  Its influence extends beyond students and their families into the highest levels of government; the Headmaster of Hogwarts is on par with the Minister of Magic himself. 

But does it teach enough?


End file.
